Brazil’s Flavio Bolsonaro pledges fiscal adjustment, rejects cuts to social spending

Brazilian senator Flavio Bolsonaro said on Friday that, if elected president, he would seek to curb Brazil’s rising public debt without touching politically sensitive social spending commitments, rejecting media reports that his campaign was considering such measures.

The right-wing lawmaker, the eldest son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, will face leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in a runoff on Oct 25 and currently leads polls against the incumbent.

In an interview with TV Globo’s Jornal Nacional, the most-watched newscast in Brazil, Bolsonaro pledged to deliver a 200 billion real (US$39.49 billion) fiscal adjustment in the federal budget if elected

Bolsonaro dismissed proposals attributed by media reports to his campaign to halt real minimum wage increases, eliminate automatic adjustments for social benefits or reduce mandatory social expenditures

“There has been a lot of fake news circulating, and this is an important moment to set the record straight,” the senator said

Instead, Bolsonaro said the adjustment would come from eliminating ministries, tackling mismanagement at state-controlled firms and monetising federal real estate assets

Brazil’s gross debt has risen more than 10 percentage points during Lula’s term to 82.9% of GDP, while long-term interest rates have fallen since Bolsonaro’s first-round victory

The senator also said he would not seek to reverse a constitutional amendment approved on Wednesday to shorten the working week in Brazil from six to five days.